Blair’s back for a fresh assault

By JOHN LYONS

BOREHAM WOOD v MAIDSTONE UTD

BLAIR PLAYER! Aaron Blair celebrates with team mates after scoring Maidstone United’s semi-final winner

PICTURES: Steve Terrell & Lydia Redman

AARON Blair played his full part in a National League South play-off final classic last season – and now he wants another slice of glory with Maidstone United.

The 25-year-old scored Braintree Town’s second goal in their stunning 4-3 extra-time victory at Worthing last season. As he prepares to visit Boreham Wood in this afternoon’s Step 2 showpiece, he knows what it takes to triumph when it matters most.

“That was one of my best experiences in football,” said the striker, who netted 20 goals for the unfancied Iron last term.

“It was a great advert for Non-League football. It was back and forth and, being part of it, I was just thinking ‘what’s going on?’. When Reggie Lambe scored our fourth, I thought ‘surely they can’t score again?’.

“Fortunately we made it through, even though we’d also played extra-time in our previous two games.”

If Braintree did it the hard way, then Maidstone are following in their footsteps. The seventh-placed finishers took the scalp of Worthing, who came fourth, in a 2-0 Eliminator success and followed it up with a dramatic 2-1 semi-final victory against third-placed Eastbourne Borough.

In the latter, Blair proved the hero with a 90th-minute winner for a Stones side down to ten men following Charlie Seaman’s dismissal for two yellow cards with eight minutes left.

Both of the play-off successes came on the road and now they need to do it all over again at Meadow Park. The sides drew one-apiece there at the end of August, but Maidstone thumped Wood 4-0 at home in late March.

“Boreham Wood play attacking football and have really good players,” Blair told The NLP. “It’s going to be a tough game, but I think it suits us being away from home.

“We are really good defensively, soak up the danger from the other team – we are like a sponge – and hit them on the counter.

“Worthing are a really good footballing team, but we stayed in shape and scored two penalties. We had a red card against Eastbourne, but still pulled through.

“Those away performances have given us a lot of confidence. At the end of the regular season, people were saying it was between first and sixth to win the title.

“We were the team in seventh that people forgot about, but now we are in the final and possibly getting promoted. We can prove people wrong.”

If Maidstone can get the job done against Luke Garrard’s men, it will give Blair a belated chance to prove his worth in the National League. After Braintree’s promotion, negotiations over staying put failed to bear fruit.

“I wanted to play at a higher level, but it didn’t really work out with Braintree at the time,” explained the former Dagenham & Redbridge forward. “I then got a call from George Elokobi (Maidstone manager) and was impressed straightaway.

VITAL: Aaron Blair slides in to score the winner against Eastbourne

“Him and Craig Fagan (assistant) have been really good for me. I feel like my game has improved massively. Another reason I have improved is being back in a full-time environment.”

Blair speaks highly of both ex-Wolves defender Elokobi, 39, and Fagan, 42, who featured as a forward for the likes of Hull, Derby and Colchester in his playing days.

“The manager wears his heart on his sleeve and I’m like that, too,” he said. “You feel his energy going into games. He’s really passionate about the game and you want to work harder for a manager like that.

“Craig used to be a

striker and he’s taught me so much. He’s helped my game in lots of ways. He’s spoken to me about holding the ball up and thinking about the first move I make instead of rushing it.

“When I’m through on goal, I’m much calmer. He’s told me ‘just aim for the corners, there’s no need to smash it’.”

With 22 goals to his name in league and cup this season, Blair has shown he knows where the goal is. A chance to ply his trade in the National League – and return Maidstone to the division they dropped out of two years ago – would be more than welcome.

“I think it’s really important for everyone at this football club,” he said. “We also want to repay the supporters. We had a tough start to the season but they stuck with us.”

Having beaten Eastbourne, there has been an unusually long two-week build-up to today’s final.

“It’s been a bit of a wait and now we are itching to play,” he added. “We’ve had a bit more time to train and prepare for it. I’m a bit nervous but that’s natural for a game of this magnitude and I do feel confident with the team we’ve got.

“We run until we can’t run any more and this is the last game of the season – we’ll give it our all.”